TAMPA, Fla. – They were cousins who were also best friends, two California boys who loved to play baseball for hours, ride bikes from store to store, compete in everything and laugh forever. Man, did they laugh. Whenever Austin Romine thought about Jordan Stanton, his cousin, he thought about the kid who was always one smirk or one syllable away from making him laugh.

Those priceless jokes and expressions that Romine adored are gone now, gone because Stanton is gone. Stanton, a Marine Corporal, was killed while participating in combat operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan on March 4. The kid that Romine called “my little brother” was 20 years old and was scheduled to return home next month. He was to be married in July.

TAMPA, Fla. – The little lefty picked up the baseball and started throwing it in the same smooth way that he had always done. It was supposed to be a simple game of catch, a prelude to Manny Banuelos’s audition for the Yankees. But Banuelos’ motion was so effortless and so seamless that the tryout began from the moment he methodically flipped a baseball to a friend.

As Lee Sigman studied Banuelos on a schoolyard field in El Vergel Durango, Mexico three-and-a-half years ago, he was entranced with how comfortable the 16-year old looked. Sigman took a four-hour bus ride through a black night to get to an 8 a.m. workout with Banuelos. Any of Sigman’s grogginess dissipated when the Yankees’ scout saw Banuelos throw. Sigman’s eyes were wide open.